Returns
by Gratiae
Summary: After reclaiming Erebor, Kíli finally returns home to his family. One-Shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Middle-earth.**

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"Muma, will Pupa be home today?" Kiath asked, still curled next to Aífe as they lay in bed today. Since Kíli left with his uncle and brother to reclaim Erebor, Kiath had taken to sleeping in bed with Aífe, as if she were afraid Aífe would leave in the night if she wasn't there.

"I don't know, Kiath," Aífe stroked her daughter's hair as Kiath snuggled into her side. "Perhaps, perhaps not."

"Pupa's been gone forever," Kiath sniffed and Aífe glanced at the crib where the bairn lay sleeping. If Khail woke, she would surely scream.

"I know. Pupa's been gone sixteen months now. It feels like forever."

"Why can't you bring him back?"

"I wish I could," Aífe told her. "I don't know where Pupa is."

"Can Kílin bring him back?"

"No, silly princess. Kílin can't bring him back."

"Well, then, when is he coming home?"

"I don't know."

"He promised he'd be back for my name day," Kiath pouted.

"You name day is three months away, Kiath. Plenty of time for Pupa to come home." Aífe sat upright and turned. "Up, up. Let's braid your hair, little girl."

"Tell me a story?" Kiath asked, sitting in front of her mother.

"What sort of a story would you like?" Aífe took the brush from her bedside table and began gently stroking the bristles through the dark brown hair that waved gently down her back.

"One about Pupa."

"There are a lot of stories about Pupa," Aífe laughed. "What sort of story about Pupa?"

"A funny one."

"A funny one," Aífe repeated. "Let's see... Oh, there are a lot of funny stories about Pupa. There was the time my kite got stuck in the tree and he climbed all the way up to get it out. Pupa was climbing back down and his boot was caught on a branch. Pupa fell all the way down, bouncing off the branches and hitting his head until he landed in a heap on the ground. I thought your pupa was dead when I saw him lying there. I ran up to him and I was crying, and Pupa popped his head up and said 'I didn't know trees could hit back.'"

Kiath giggled and Aífe began braiding the intricate braids that usually adorned her hair.

"Tell me how you met Pupa."

"Well, a long, long time ago, in the year 2905, I was just a lass of thirty-eight. Not yet a dwarf grown. I was selling Pepa Brokki's cakes, the lemon poppyseed ones that you like, out in the main street. I was down by the pork seller's stall selling the cakes from a basket and I had my back turned from the street. Your pupa snuck his hand in like this and grabbed one of my cakes.

"He wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was and I felt the weight of his hand on my basket. I turned around, quick as a whip, and slapped the cake from his hand. Uncle Thorin came and I learned that your father was one of the Princes of Durin. I think I nearly exploded, Kiath! A Prince of Durin was stealing my cakes."

"What did Uncle Thorin do?" Kiath asked, giving her a curious look that reminded her so much of Kíli.

"Uncle Thorin sent Pupa straight home. He wouldn't let Pupa into the forge for a month and a half. Pupa had to cook and clean and help old Grá with the chores. A month and a half after he tried to steal my cake, he came back to me. At first I was angry to see him, but he begged me to listen and stop pelting him with buns."

"You threw buns at Pupa?" Kiath giggled and Aífe laughed with her.

"I did," Aífe nodded. "Eventually, though, I ran out of buns. Pupa had made me a cake as an apology. It was a vanilla cake topped with blueberries and strawberries."

"Was it good?"

"No," Aífe giggled and sewed the silver thread through Kiath's braids. 'It was horrible. It tasted like sponge.'

'Pupa's not a good cook,' Kiath giggled.

'No, he's not. But he tried. So, he gave me the cake and apologized for stealing one of mine.'

'Did you forgive Pupa, Muma?'

'Not at first. But he was so persistent in his quest for forgiveness, that I eventually forgave him and, thirty-seven years later, you're here,' Aífe tied the final knot in Kiath's hair and kissed her daughter's cheek.

'When did you fall in love?'

'That is a tale for another time, Sweet Girl. The sun is already high. It's time to start the day. Up, up. Time to make breakfast for your brothers and sister.'

ooo ooo ooo ooo

The pile of dust and dirt grew larger and larger in the centre of the room where Aífe swept it into a heap. She could hear Kiath and Kiff playing with the wooden dwarves Kíli had made for them long before he left. The bairn Khail, a year old now, laughed from where she was being watched by Koth.

Aífe leaned against the broom's shaft and sighed deeply. Everything wearied her lately. Despite help, seven littlins exhausted her. She missed her husband desperately. She missed his laughter in her ears, his smile across the supper table, his tales to their littlins, his warmth in their bed. She missed him and she had no idea when or if he would come home.

What would she tell Kiath if her name day came and went and Kíli was still gone? What would she tell them if he never returned? What would she do if he never returned? What would she do if news came that her love was dead?

Aífe shook herself. No. She would not think that way. Kíli would come home to her, to their family. He had to.

"Muma!" Kalin came running into the room, his hand holding out a a piece of woodwork for her to examine. "Look, Muma! I finished it!"

Kalin handed her the delicately carved flower and Aífe leaned her broom against the wall. She very carefully ran her fingertips over the sanded oak and looked at every inch and Kalin's face glowed with pride.

"This is beautiful, Kalin. Absolutely stunning."

"Do you think Pupa will like it? When he gets home, I mean. Do you think he'll be proud?" Kalin looked so hopefully at her that her heart broke. The boy had a mountain of things waiting to show to Kíli when he returned. What would happen to that pile, to her precious son who so desperately yearned for his father's approval, if he never walked through those doors again?

"Pupa will love it, Kalin. He'll absolutely love it."

"You'll put it with the rest?"

"Of course I will," Aífe smiled, leaning forward to kiss the twelve-year-old's forehead. Kalin made a face, but hugged his mother briefly before running off to find his siblings again. With a heavy sigh, she took the carving to the armoire where she had taken to storing the crafts waiting for Kíli's approval.

The shelves were packed with things. Kalin's shelf was full of wooden objects, Koth's with silver. Kith had ironwork and Kiff's shelf was a mixture of everything. Kiath's shelf held drawn pictures and a few clay models. Khail had a small little basket of things Aífe had collected from her first year of life. And Kílin... Kílin's entire bedchamber was packed with everything he'd created, from great swords and maces to delicate necklaces and intricate rings.

Kílin was the one she worried about most.

Closing the armoire's doors, Aífe stopped in the kitchen to speak to the cook before returning to her abandoned broom. She swept and swept, allowing her thoughts to slip away into nothingness. The occasional emptiness of her mind was a momentary salvation she'd learned to treasure. The door to the hall opened and Aífe greeted Kílin without turning.

"Aífe..."

Her back straightened and her stomach felt leaden. She turned, slowly and not daring to believe it to be true. Aífe kept her eyes closed until the very last second. So many times she had thought she heard his voice and turned to find no one there. She'd woken in the night, sure as her own name that he had woken her, to find herself alone. She'd seen his face in the market, his laughter ringing through the halls. She couldn't stand another of the vicious tricks her mind played on her. Not today.

"Open your eyes, Baker's Daughter."

There it was again. Aife's heart contracted. What if she looked and it wasn't him? What if she turned to find the doors closed and... and... She couldn't bear it. But is sounded so much like his voice. Maybe. Maybe this time. Barely trusting her own sight, she opened her eyes and stared blankly at her husband, tattered and dirty and careworn, standing in the doorway.

"Kíli?"

"Aífe."

"Kíli!" The broom dropped with a clatter and Aífe ran to meet him, her footsteps heavy in their haste. Tears filled her eyes and marked her cheeks. She couldn't slow as she collided into him. Kíli's arm caught her and held her tightly, his own tears falling into her hair as he buried his face in her curls.

"I love you," he whispered repeatedly. "I love you. I love you."

"I love you, Kíli," she kissed him, tangling her fingers in his filthy hair and feeling his beard soft against her skin. "You've come back."

"I've come back," Kíli parroted her words, pulling her tight against him. "I promised you I would come back, didn't I? When have I ever broken a promise to you?"

"I've missed you, my Prince. I've missed you more than I can tell," Aífe kissed him again and Kíli felt peace for the first moment since he left Ered Luin.

"I promise, I've missed you more," Kíli smiled down at her, letting her go to brush golden hair away from her face. Her eyes drank him eagerly and, it was only then that she noticed. While his right arm reached out to her, as eager to touch her as she was to touch him, the left hung by his side, limp like dead weight.

"Your arm..."

"It's utterly worthless, but the wound is healed," Kíli spoke with the tone of one who had long come to terms with the knowledge that he would never use his arm again.

"Oh, Kíli."

"It's fine," Kíli promised, nuzzling his nose against hers and dusting kisses across her face. "I'm alright without it. I can still hold you and that's all I ever want to do."

"Are you alright otherwise?" she asked, trying to inspect him without moving away from him. "Nothing else is hurt?"

"Everything healed," he assured her. "Though my ribs are still a tad sore."

"Are you sure?"

Kíli kissed her tears away and reveling in the feeling of home that being in her arms brought. "I'm very sure, my love."

"And..." Aífe did not want to ask the question weighing down her tongue.

"Thorin's dead," Kíli told her, his voice quiet and heavy with pain. "Everyone else is alive and well. Dwalin accompanied me back to lead you and the rest of our kin to our home. Fíli and the others are in Erebor, rebuilding with the help of Dain and the Dwarves of the Iron Hills."

Aífe felt a sickening rot in her stomach and her shoulders curled as she tried to keep from being sick at the news that her king was dead. "No."

Kíli nodded, tightening his hold on her as he fought to keep his own grief from rising and swallowing him whole. "I'm sorry I bring you this news."

"You bring me you," Aífe whispered into the oiled leather of his coat. "That's enough. Where is Dwalin? He must be fed. He'll stay here, Kíli. I can have a bed ready in just a few minutes."

"Dwalin went to the springs. He'll be along later. He wanted to give us this time," Kíli kissed her again and ran his hand down her back. "Aífe, where are our littlins? Our bairn?"

"Kílin is at the forge. He should be home soon, but sometimes he runs late. The others are in the great hall."

"Our bairn? Was it... was it a boy or a girl? Was it alright? Were you alright?"

"It was a girl, Imp Prince." Aífe smiled at him, touching his face. "Just like you said. And she's fine. She's strong and beautiful. Her name's Khail, like you wanted."

"Were you alright?"

"Kílin helped me. Dís and Lempi were there when she was born. Khail was hard, but I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

"You came home. Nothing else matters. Are you hungry? Do you -"

"Muma! Muma, Kith broke my -" Kíff stopped where he stood, the wounded toy falling to the ground with a clatter. "PUPA!"

Kíff took off at a run, launching himself at Kíli, who was just barely able to catch him. Kíff clung to his neck, sobbing and wailing and not letting go. "Pupa, I thought you would never come home!"

"I'm home, son," Kíli dropped his face to the top of his youngest son's head and fought the tears of relief that came at finally holding one of his littlins again. "I'm home. Goodness, you've grown so big, Kíff!"

The others had heard Kíff's scream and a horde of footsteps pounded down the hall towards them, bursting into the room with a deafening rumpus. Kíli knelt, putting Kíff down on his feet to let the rest of them to fasten onto him. Aífe took Khail from Kalin's arms and settled the confused bairn in the crook of her arm. Kiath had climbed awkwardly into Kíli's lap and Kíff was still clutching his neck and Kith was holding onto the other side and before Kíli knew what was happening, he fell backwards with a thud to lie on the ground.

Aífe covered her laugh with her hand, happy tears filling her eyes.

"Pupa, I missed you," Kiath cried, burying her face in his coat as he struggled to get off his back with his only functional arm trapped by Kíff.

"Kalin, help Pupa up," Aífe said, pulling Kiath off Kíli's chest by her dress. Kiath howled in protest and Kalin's eyes narrowed when he saw Kíli's arm hanging as he helped him back into a sitting position.

"What happened, Pupa?"

"I took a blade to the underside of my arm," Kíli told him, speaking louder over Kiath's angry wails at still being restrained from her pupa. "It cut through to the bone, but Thranduil, the Elvenking, healed it. It's fine now, Kalin. Don't worry."

"You can't use it!"

"No," Kíli agreed. "But I'm here with you. I'll take a useless arm for that any day. Aífe, let Kiath go."

Aífe released the child, with her snotty, tear-covered face, and Kiath stumbled into her father's embrace. Kíli settled her onto his lap and kissed her, holding her tight and calming her down as she snuggled into him and bemoaned how much she'd missed him and how scared she was.

"I'm home now, my Princess. I promise I'll never leave you again." With Kiath still curled in his lap, Kíli gestured for the rest of them, resulting in a slightly more organized mob surrounding him as he kissed them all and took comfort in seeing their faces and having them near.

Aífe watched with a happy smile. None of her dreams and hopes for his homecoming had come near to what it really was. She could barely breath for the happiness swelling in her chest and the terror slight chance that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't real, that she would wake up to find an empty bed and no one beside her.

Finally, the littlins moved back at his instruction and Kili gently nudged Kiath from his lap. Kíli slowly rose to his feet and took the few steps towards her. Khail blinked up at Kíli from Aífe's arms and Kíli stared at her, reaching out to stroke the top of her head. Khail just observed the man she didn't know as he traced his rough fingers over her face and fought back tears at the first sight of his daughter.

"She's beautiful, Aífe," Kíli whispered, looking up and giving her a quick kiss before returning his attention to the bairn. "Can I?"

Nervously, Aífe placed Khail into Kíli's arm and watched as Kíli held Khail against his side and whispered quietly to the bairn. Kíli bent his head and kissed her forehead. "Hello, little one. Hello. I'm your pupa."

Khail reached up and latched on to his beard, tugging and making Kíli laugh. "I see you're just like your brothers and sisters, then." Aífe made to remove Khail's hand from Kíli's beard, but Kíli told her no. Aífe started. Kíli had never spoken to anyone with such authority, much less to her. Now, though, he'd been assertive twice in less than ten minutes.

Standing back, Aífe studied him. He looked far more aged than he should after a year half. His hair and beard were as dark as they had been when he left, but the lines around his eyes were filled with sorrow and grief even as he laughed with his daughter and smiled at his littlins - even when he looked at her with such love that she felt overwhelmed. Had it been the journey that had aged him so or the death of his uncle that had killed the carefree Dwarf she'd married?

"Pupa?" Everyone turned to see Kílin standing in the doorway, staring at his father in disbelief. "Pupa."

Kíli handed Khail to Aífe and started walking towards his eldest. Kílin dropped his tools to the ground and ran to his father, hugging him tightly and talking so only the two of them could hear. The other littlins waited anxiously, wanting to go to their father, but knowing they were supposed to give Kíli time with Kílin.

"I love you," Kíli kissed the top of Kílin's head and desperately wished he could hold his son with both arms.

"I love you too, Pupa," Kílin, who had been so strong since Kíli left, cried into his father's coat and finally let his strength ebb away until he was again the young child he was supposed to be. "I missed you."

"I missed you, Son. I missed you every minute of every day."

"Please, don't leave again," Kílin sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, and Kíli's heart broke as he looked down into the boy's bloodshot brown eyes and brush golden hair from his face.

"Next time I leave, you'll be coming with me. You all will. But I'll never leave you again. I promise you that," Kíli cleaned the tears from Kílin's cheeks and held him when he burst out crying again. "It's alright, Son. It's alright."

"Where are we going?"

"Home. To Erebor," Kíli told him. "We're all going home to Erebor."

There came a knock at the open door and everyone turned to see Dwalin standing in the archway. The littlins ran to him with almost the same excitement with which they'd run to their father, jumping onto him and exclaiming their joy at the sight of him.

Kíli was glad of Dwalin's arrival. He was not yet ready to tell the children of their Pepa Thorin's death - for the grief that would come from the news. Aífe kissed Dwalin's cheek and promised food, leaving for the kitchen after handing Khail to Kalin. Following Aífe, Kíli stopped her once they were out of sight of the littlins. Aífe's startled cry was muffled when Kíli kissed her fervently. Aífe's arms snaked around his neck.

"I missed you so much," Kíli whispered. "I thought I would die of how much I missed you."

"You're home now, Prince," Aífe touched his cheek, feeling the soft, full beard against his palm and wondering if the aging lines would ever leave the face she loved so much. "And I don't intend to let you go again. So I hope you got all your adventuring out, Prince."

Kíli smiled at her and leaned in for another kiss. "My Love, I have seen enough of adventure to last many lives. All I want is to spend the remainder of my life beside you."

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**A/N:**

**I got enough requests for an AU of Kíli returning home to his family that my head started forming the story so (mostly to get my head to shut up) I wrote it. This is totally an AU from the canon ending in my head, but, eh, whatever. It gave me feels.**

**Kíli came home and Fíli is king. Yay! **

**Am I the only one thinking 19 March is NOT COMING FAST ENOUGH?!**

**I've gotta go do homework, so bye. :)**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it and, please, tell me what you think - good or bad!**

**Love, Thal**


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